I wrote this to a friend, and then it dawned on me I should post it here.

Some people call this “holy week”.  I know it’s important to celebrate and appreciate the death and resurrection of our Lord.  But I have trouble making a “big deal’ of the “one day”, because in my mind it should be a big deal every day.  Please don’t get me wrong, I  LOVE Easter and what it means.  I just think that to celebrate and remember the Resurrection once a year isn’t enough.

Scripture draws an analogy between what the high priest of olden days did once a year on what is now Yom Kippur, to go into the Holy of Holies once a year and sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat to atone for the sins of the people, and what Christ did, entering the “holy place” once and for all with His shed blood in hand, as it were,  to give US access to the very throne of God in prayer.

That His sacrifice is what makes us the “adopted” sons of God; we are justified by His death and saved by His life.  That His resurrection is what makes our future going to Heaven possible.

I think about this all year long… and am so grateful for it.  That Christ’s “intercession” for us, and the Holy Spirit’s coming because He went to heaven, make it possible for me to have a parent-child relationship with the Owner of the universe.

I just thought I’d write and wish you all a very blessed, happy, spiritual week this week and really, always.  I see many of you as being very spiritually minded, so I know this all means something to you.

God bless,
Gerrie

Friday I finally felt almost totally better.  I even got a lot done and Saturday too.  I still cough really hard now and then, but I’m getting more oxygen and it makes a difference in my energy level.  Hooray!

Last week I had two assignments for college plus grades due for my students… very stressful.  I wanted to run to Tahiti:)  But I knew the ONLY way through and out of the stress was to get things done, and with each thing I finished, I could actually feel the stress lessening.  On one of the assignments,  pretty  major paper, I got an A-PLUS

Friday night I signed up for the last two classes at University of San Diego that I have to take for my credential.  Praise God I was able to get into a class that starts the very next day after this health class finishes (this coming Thursday it finishes, Friday the new class starts!).  I think I was the last person to get in, because now it says ‘class full, waitlist available”.  Because of that, I decided to sign up for the next class, which starts one day before the next new class begins.  That’s a bit crazy but the first day of class is nothing much, and I”m planning on having all my homework finished before the last day of class anyway.

Bottom line is that my APU class and the last USD class AND my school year for teaching will all end by Friday June 13.  THAT is worth putting myself through this stress, because it means I’ll be totally finished all requirements for my clear credentials, both special ed AND single subject (so I can teach ASL at a high school).

I still have to take the last subtest of the CSET (subject matter competence in ASL) May 19th… hopefully I can pass that, and if I do (just now realized I’ll find that out on June 19th, just a week after i finish school), then I will be COMPLETELY done!  Until the powers that be invent another requirement for teachers:)

Emotionally I still have ups and downs about social parts of life, but remembering that I belong to God and am in His love, helps.

Praying for others (like Xanga friends) too, helps.

Love to all,
Gerrie

Thanks to all who prayed for me.  I finished the antibiotics yesterday.  Usually the 3rd or 4th day of antibiotics I’m feeling better but this time it took till day 5.  I’m pretty much all better except for hay fever symptoms of itchy nose and sneezing.  I finally took Zyrtec again, but maybe that contributed to the “asthma” problem?  Don’t know.

The two online college courses are “so far so good”.  I don’t recommend this two course stuff, but I need to get the credential work done as fast as I can.

By the way, for anyone who has to do research papers in college and has to do them in “APA format” or “MLA Format,” there is software you can buy and download as a template right into MS Word.  The website is called www.referencepointsoftware.com, and is worth every penny of the $28 dollars it costs to buy.  You can just download it, or buy a CD of it, or both (get it as a download now and get a CD in the mail, too).

My teaching is going ok, except the kids are a little more squirrely than they were. I think it’s because I was sick and wasn’t as strict for a while.

Everything else is pretty much ok.  Took a “day off” and went to a movie Saturday with my son’s family.  Saw the “Spiderwick Chronicles” and enjoyed it.  Good special effects and fantasy creatures.  At one point even Nick Nolte is in it as the evil ogre. My daughter in law read the books and said the movie, though not as detailed or complete as the books, was good.

Hope things are going well for everybody.

Love to all,
Gerrie

A little update:  My doctor told me to go to the urgent-care pretty close by, to get checked out and probably a breathing treatment.  They said it was a 2 to 4 hour wait and a better time to come would be 6:30 am Saturday(today).  So I told them I’d do that unless things got worse and in that case I’d show up on their doorstep whenever.

Long story short, I just got back from the urgent-care and the pharmacy.  I have the early stages of walking pneumonia (diagnosed via x-ray).  The doctor said we caught it just in time and put me on an antibiotic, cough syrup, and an inhaler.  They also gave me a “breathing treatment” and so I feel a lot better! 

Thank you all for your prayers!  I thank God for His healing mercies and providing me with good care like this.

I know others are worse off, and I have been sicker than this in the past.  But I thought I’d write and ask for prayers anyway.

Every year I in Jan-Feb I get hay fever that almost always goes “down” and becomes ashma-like, with difficulty breathing and wheezing.  Often it becomes bronchitis, and a couple of times, it has gone into pneumonia.

Well, this year was no exception.  Started with the hay fever, and started taking Zyrtec (nothing else works).  And it went down, and so once in a while I’d use an inhaler, which helped.  But you can’t use the inhaler too much or it will make your heart beat funny.

This week I have really had a struggle breathing.  I was going to teach lessons in ASL but changed my mind and showed another film instead, so I didn’t have to talk as much.  The other night around 2 am I woke up and very nearly went to the hospital….but decided to try and just find a position I could lie in and breathe better and sleep… I can’t really stay home from school because there’s nobody who could teach ASL.  By the end of the day it’s hard for me to carry my backpack to the car… but yesterday & today I figured out how to park closer!

I emailed my doctor and she prescribed some medicine, and she couldn’t fit me in to see her yesterday, and today they closed at noon.  I called her this afternoon and she recommended going to urgent care,  They had a 2 to 4 hour wait so I decided to go early tomorrow (Saturday) morning when things are calm… I’d rather “wait 2 to 4 hours” here than there… if I need to I’ll show up on their doorstep in the middle of the night. 

Would you guys pray for me?  I just need to get better so I can do the homework for my college classes and do lesson planning for next week.

Thank you! I have been reading some of the posts but I’m a little behind..

Love and God’s blessings to all,
Gerrie

I’m putting this at the beginning of the post I wrote today, because I think it might help someone.  Teachers (and probably other occupations, too) are required to be certified in CPR.  The health class I have to take for my credential also requires that I have CPR training before the class ends (6 weeks).  So I did it this evening ONLINE!  The California Teacher Credentialing board accepts this from only one site: www.cprtoday.com.  Maybe some of you would prefer to do it the hands-on way, but I’ve interpreted this at least 3 times before, and so I felt comfortable doing this online.  The site includes little video illustrations of things like where to put your hands for the compressions, etc., and is very clear.  For thirty dollars you can do adult/child cpr training, including the exam and printing out your certificate, in less than an hour.  They give discounts for 5 people or more, so if you and your teens need it, there you go:)  Just thought someone might be interested in this.  God bless you all Sunday.

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Well, final exams are done, and at my school we just started a new Semester and a new 6-week grading period.  I was able to get a couple of ornery kids OUT of my classes, and started out laying down the law for a few more.  Hopefully things will go better this semester.  I’m starting to figure things out, and my mentor teacher is an amazing help!  Her name is Lia, and she is an absolute blessing to me.  OH, and I got a couple of student T.A.’s and they help me take care of entering the daily work into the record book…THAT is an amazing help, too!  Now I just need to get coordinated… I’m still in 4 different classrooms for 5 periods, which is a challenge because I have to take everything with me.  Organization is NOT a talent I was born with, so I struggle with it…  so there are pros and cons to moving around…  it is much harder especially when I leave things behind in the room I just left; on the other hand it forces me to be at least somewhat organized and forces me to purge alot because there are limits to what my short self can carry in a backpack!

On the other front, I just finished the 2nd college class out of 4 I am taking at A.P.U. and the next (3rd) starts Tuesday.  In addition to those 4 I also need 3 “basic” courses toward the permanent credential, so I signed up for the 1st one (online) through University of San Diego, which starts next Thursday.  The APU one is 3 credits in 9 weeks; the USD one is 2 credits in 6 weeks.  OH yes, and I need to take CPR training.  I want to finish all this by June or July.  Then at the end of July I plan to visit my brother in Germany again.  I know it’s going to be hard to juggle two courses, but I just don’t want to drag it out.  I do remember having taken 2 courses at a time before… it was stressful but I got through it.  I can do all things through Christ…I can do all things through Christ…I  can do all things through Christ….

Yesterday was the birthday of my youngest son, and he turned 30!  I was 27 when I had him…. how funny that all my children are now older than I was when I gave birth to them.  His is the little family expecting the baby in June.  Yesterday at the prenatal appointment, the doctor showed them on the sonogram how he can tell it’s a girl :):)

That’s about all that’s going on right now. OH yes, today I actually got to have a long conversation with the pastor of the church I’ve started attending.  I emailed him and he invited me to sit and talk and have coffee at a coffee-place (not Starbuck’s but a better one called Peet’s).   It was very good and helpful to get to know him and for him to know me.  He gave me things to read and things I can pray about. 

Hope everybody else is doing well…spring is soon:)  Hooray!

Love to all,
Gerrie

Almost every day I read my subscriptions on Xanga.  But I don’t always have time (especially in the morning before school) to comment right away, and often wait till later.  And I don’t write a new post unless I think I have something to say.  But it’s been a while, so I thought I’d write a short one.

My birthday trip to Disneyland was FUN.  My son’s family and I had a very nice time, and they left at 7, but the friend that joined us took me home later so I could stay to see a nighttime little show called Fantasmic. 

At my school we are in finals week.  Time flies!  Monday starts second semester, with a “clean slate” for the kids and me.

My college class is also in its last week, and I start a new class on Feb. 2nd.  I take as many classes online as I can, and so out of 4 that I need from Azusa Pacific University, 3 are online.  This week finishes the 2nd of the 4, and the next one is also online.  Hooray!  I love taking classes and learning, but it does add stress.

The “latest”, I suppose, is that I should be asking for prayer.  Every year in January and February I get allergies, sort of like hay fever.  But this one goes “down” into my lungs and turns into asthma.  Sometimes it gets to be bronchitis or less frequently, pneumonia.  I take Zyrtec for the allergy part (nothing else works), and I’ve had to use an inhaler when my breathing gets wheezy or difficult.  And I’d like to PREVENT getting bronchitis this time, if I can.

At least at school I have the option to sign instead of talking.  But I think going from classroom to classroom (I’m a floater without my own room) makes the breathing get hard especially by the time I’m going home.

Last year we had a mild winter, and for some reason I had only a little “hay fever” stuff that didn’t get to be asthma like this year.  Maybe another difference this year is that the stress from going to college and the new job is making this worse…  I don’t feel horribly “stressed out”, I just notice having more physical symptoms.

Part of me wants to just shake it off and ride it out till it goes away by itself without bothering anybody for prayer.  But sometimes once in a great while I want someone to pray with me and for God to make it all better NOW (or to be hugged).

So I’m asking for prayer, that this doesn’t get into bronchitis but that it could ease up till it goes away, at least?  Thank you all, I’ve loved reading your blogs and I do pray for my dear friends here.

Love to all and God bless,
Gerrie

I debated whether to mention it.  But Gail2 sort of decided it for me:)  She put a comment on the post before this one AND a little mini, wishing me a blessed birthday.

I”m writing this Saturday night (back east it’s after midnight and so it IS, therefore, now my birthday) a little after ten pm.  Tomorrow my son and his family and I are going to Disneyland.  A few weeks ago I took “that” grandson to Disneyland with me, and we had a very very nice time. I spoiled him and we went on rides I’d never been on before.

So we go tomorrow morning, the four of us, and then in the afternoon a friend of mine is meeting us there.  So it should be a nice day (and it’s supposed to be warm).

God has blessed me and taken care of me through all the ups and downs of my life, and I look forward to continuing with Him always.

Love to all,
Gerrie

I’ve never been one to “make
resolutions” at this time of year. But I’ve been reading some of your
posts, and I think it’s a wonderful idea to look back and count
blessings, and see what we’ve learned and what we need to
learn.  And to think about plans and hopes and dreams for the future.

This year has been one of amazing ups and downs for me.  It’s been a bit traumatic at times, but very full of blessings as well.  Thanks to all my dear Xanga friends for your love, encouragement, and prayerful support.  Some of my blessings include a new job I love, a new grandson, a new son-in-law,  a trip to Germany to visit my brother (including a wonderful jaunt to beautiful Salzburg), a 16-month relationship with a dear friend, finding a new church,  and the opportunity to fix up my home a bit.

One plan for this year is to finish my clear credential for teaching.  I’m already in the midsts of doing that, which requires taking more college classes.  Another is to learn my job so they will want me back next year (I’m way too nice and so I need to learn firm classroom discipline).

Another is to do more work on my house.  It’s over 50 years old, and needs, among other things, to have the galvanized pipes replaced with copper. 

The most important “plan” is to learn more about how the Holy Spirit and the Lord really do work, and to become more intimate with God.  To seek His will for my life, which includes what is essentially a hope/dream for being married again some day, to the partner of HIS choosing.

I’m looking forward to another year of growing in the Lord, of blessings (one of which is a coming grandchild in June), time with family, and of learning.  And of fellowship with dear friends new and old, including those here.

Love and blessings to all,
Gerrie

Well, my daughter, who was SO freaked out by this “mysterious” leaving of gifts, figured out who it was!  The clue was in the last, the #12 gift.

My children came over for dinner, and we were sitting in the living room after dinner opening presents.  Suddenly there was a knock at the door.  We told my son about this mystery and he, like my daughter, thought it was weird. (I knew it had to be someone we knew, so I was really amused and excited by it — hey, call me naive and gullible:)  Someone opened the door as quickly as he could, only in time to see a person getting into a car, this time an SUV-type vehicle.  My daughter saw the car….

So we all sat down and Stacy opened the bag and pulled out a decorated mason jar with chocolates inside.  She exclaimed, “It’s Joan!”  Joan is a very sweet Mormon lady she works with, who lives around the corner from us.  Joan had given Stacy an identical jar at work a couple of days ago.  Stacy said Joan probably did that as a clue.

But of course Stacy’s been telling Joan all about this weird, possibly terroristic unknown person who’s been dropping presents at our door and not telling us who they are.  Joan, bless her heart, has kept a straight face the whole time she’s heard of this all week, so Stacy had no inkling (I even asked her if it could be Joan) it was her all along.

Then Stacy mentioned the vehicles, saying, “It’s been Joan’s kids dropping the gifts off — one daughter has an SUV like that, and the Nissan sports car from the other night was probably her son.”

She told us another story of Joan’s ability to keep a straight face in difficult circumstances.  A year or two ago they had a supervisor-boss who was very nasty to everybody, and nobody liked him of course.  Joan got one of those Christmas lumps of coal (that was really gum) in a giftbox, and put it on his desk.  He was furious when he found it,  and asked all over the department to see who did it.  He asked Joan personally, and she professed innocence, with an amazingly straight poker face, so he never, ever suspected it was her!

Another funny thing was that my son and daughter each gave me slippers!  I knew Stacy got her brother slippers, cuz my daughter in law told me (and I passed it on) to get Russell those.  I think she got EVERYBODY slippers!  The funny thing is Stacy knows my favorite color is blue, so of course she got me that color.  Russell said he almost bought me those, but decided they were too ugly so he got me “cooler” ones that were brown and almost look like a pair of shoes.

The other neat surprise was Stacy and her husband got me Scrabble and Mahjongg games for my Mac laptop.  I mentioned to them that I had just done a silly thing and got myself a DS machine and got Brain Age 2 because I love puzzles, but that I’d love to find Scrabble for the Mac, and was thinking about going to the Apple store…Stacy got a funny look on her face (she’s nowhere near as good as Joan at poker faces), so I decided to procrastinate.

Little Nathan commented that “Grandma always buys learning games cuz she’s a teacher”… he knew some of the gifts were books (next year I learn camouflage tactics), and was reluctant to open them.  I told him not ALL of them are books…  he was happy with the books though (“Oh cool, Magic Tree House!”), and excited about the Leap Pad and Vsmile games.  I told him I knew he’d be getting lots of toys, and that he needs BOTH books and toys, so I get the books.  And I just HAD to get him a Nate the Great book:)

Tyler’s mother told me he has really been enjoying maps.  So I got him the best ones I could find, both by National Geographic, a World Atlas and a United States Atlas.  He told me he was happy with all of the gifts from me (after hearing his cousin poo-poo the books).  One gift we didn’t let him see yet, because “Santa” was going to bring him a PSP game, and so Russell kept the Best Buy gift card with my note that it’s for a PSP game, and will give it after he opens the game.

After everybody left I went to 11 pm Christmas Eve service at the new church I’ve been attending.  It was a beautiful, worshipful service.

Merry Christmas and blessings for the coming New Year to you all, Gerrie

It started last week.  Someone left a wrapped gift at our front door with a round tag labeled “1st Day of Christmas”.  The next evening another gift came, a round tag labeled “2″ attached to it. The third day another, with a tag marked “3″.  At first the gifts arrived around 7:30 in the evening.  We’ve asked around among friends and family and nobody is admitting to it.  Tonight number “10″ came.

Love to all,
Gerrie